Be informed:Dispelling the Myths

But what about ‘cheap food’?Don't believe everything they say about supermarkets providing the cheapest food. When a supermarket first opens, it offers rock-bottom prices, but once it has killed off its competition and has become the only place to shop, prices rise, and keep on rising. A shopping basket comparison in Cambridge showed that a smaller Tesco was 13% more expensive than the Co-op and 11% more expensive than small shops. A £40 shopping basket may end up costing £5.20 more.

Some useful statistics:
A survey by Sustain in 2005 showed that a basket of fruit and vegetables at a supermarket in Walthamstow cost £2.50 more than the equivalent at a market.

Research by the New Economics Foundation for the London Development Agency in 2006 showed that fresh produce in street markets was on average 30% cheaper than at supermarkets. (More)

"Visitors come to Hay because of its unique character and the quality of its
small independent shops"